Web Assembly (WASM) is a new binary instruction format for a stack-based virtual machine. It is designed to be a portable, size- and load-time-efficient compilation target for programming languages, enabling deployment on the web for client and server applications.
Web Assembly (WASM) is a low-level, assembly-like language that is designed to be a compilation target for programming languages such as C, C++, Rust, and others. It is a binary instruction format that is designed to be efficient in terms of size, load time, and execution time. WASM is designed to be a portable target for compilation of high-level languages, allowing them to be deployed on the web for both client-side and server-side applications.
WASM is designed to be a safe, sandboxed execution environment, allowing code to run on the web without compromising the user’s security. It also provides a way to run code on the web that is more efficient than JavaScript, allowing for better performance and faster loading times.
WASM code is compiled ahead-of-time (AOT) into a binary format, which is then loaded and executed by a virtual machine. This virtual machine can be embedded in a web browser, or it can be implemented as a standalone application.
Web Assembly was first announced in 2015 by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as a part of the effort to create a new web platform. The initial version of the language was released in 2017 and has since seen several updates.
WASM provides a number of features that make it an attractive compilation target for web applications.
The following is an example of a simple program written in C and compiled to WASM:
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
printf("Hello, World!\n");
return 0;
}
This program can be compiled to WASM using a tool such as Emscripten:
emcc hello.c -o hello.wasm
This will produce a WASM binary, which can then be loaded and executed by a WASM virtual machine.
WASM has a number of advantages over other web technologies:
However, there are also some disadvantages to using WASM:
WASM is related to other web technologies such as JavaScript and WebGL. JavaScript is a scripting language that is used to create dynamic webpages, while WebGL is a graphics API that allows for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics in web browsers.
WASM is an exciting new technology that has the potential to revolutionize the way web applications are developed. It provides a way to run code on the web that is more efficient than JavaScript, allowing for better performance and faster loading times. It is also designed to be a safe, sandboxed execution environment, allowing code to run on the web without compromising the user’s security.